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what sport is the most popular

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Definately agree that soccer or football is the most popular but personally I would like to see American Football take the most popular spot 😀
 


<< not only is it fast paced and pretty much non-stop, but it requires alot of talent and coordination to play soccer. >>



the #2 sport in the world(I read that somewhere), rugby also is fast paced and non-stop, but has a lot more action in a lot more fun to play IMO. The actions and skills of rugby are similar to several familiar sports. Rugby has the contact of American football, the running of soccer, and the continuous play of basketball.
 
It is fact that Auto Racing is the most watched sport in the US. Over 300 races every week not counting drag racing. Dirt track outnumbers NASCAR just because of the large amount of local tracks around the country. For many years it was Horse Racing but that has had its day.
Bleep
 
sorry i find both baseball and soccer boring

baseball- half the time they're jsut standing around scratching their asses, the only people that do anything are the pitchers, hitters, and catchers

soccer- because it's 90 minutes nonstop, quite frankly half the time they're too tired to play a fast paced game. don't you remember the simpsons episode where they had a soccer match? haahahhaahha


for baseball, i will however make an exception for the 2001 world series. that was just a wee bit exciting =)
 


<< There's one stark difference between the big US sports (Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Golf) and soccer--you can't have a commercial break every 10 minutes or less in a soccer game. >>



That's true. During the Atlanta olympics the organizers were asked that could the soccer-games be played in three shorter rounds than in two longer halves (so they could put more commercials in the middle). Naturally, that can't be done. So they compensated by having the announcers saying all the time "we thank Kodak for sponsoring this event", "Thanks to IBM we can bring this sporting-event to you" etc. Pretty lame if you ask me.
 
Since no one mentioned it yet, the most popular sport here in the US is the chase of the opposite sex 😀
 
Talking US sports here:

If you're talking attendance, then it's baseball, easily. There are just so many games that total attendance surpasses all other US sports.

If you're talking participation, then it's bowling. No contest.

If you're talking TV audience, then I'd imagine you have NFL and Nascar at the top. There are fewer Nascar events, so more people total watch the NFL on TV, but if you're talking individual games and races, then Nascar wins...........if you don't count the Super Bowl, which is the great-granddaddy of them all.

Of course there are more spectators at Nascar races for the most part, but if you have one Nascar race a weekend and 15 NFL games, the NFL easily wins.


 
in the world of Martial Arts... Judo is the most popular....

overall... I'd say soccer... that sport is big in countries like China and Brazil that have huge populations... not sure how big it is in India...
 


<<

<< There's one stark difference between the big US sports (Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Golf) and soccer--you can't have a commercial break every 10 minutes or less in a soccer game. >>



That's true. During the Atlanta olympics the organizers were asked that could the soccer-games be played in three shorter rounds than in two longer halves (so they could put more commercials in the middle). Naturally, that can't be done. So they compensated by having the announcers saying all the time "we thank Kodak for sponsoring this event", "Thanks to IBM we can bring this sporting-event to you" etc. Pretty lame if you ask me.
>>



I have this nightmarish vision of semitransparent commercials being broadcast while the game is still partly visible in the background.

I think the big cheese in India is Cricket. At least all the Indian guys I work with (and there's quite a few) are all huge cricket junkies....we even have our own cricket team and we paly against the local college clubs and are so far undefeated. The days of India v. Pakistan and India v. England are borderline company holidays...
 


<< lacrosse 😀

oh wait.. i thought it said best sport, not most popular.... give it a few years though, Lacrosse is on its way to the top.
>>




lacrosse is freaking hardcore!! i was watching a game (NY vs Columbia) at london drugs on one of those huge ass flat screen tv's!
I find it better than hockey too
 


<< I think the big cheese in India is Cricket. At least all the Indian guys I work with (and there's quite a few) are all huge cricket junkies....we even have our own cricket team and we paly against the local college clubs and are so far undefeated. The days of India v. Pakistan and India v. England are borderline company holidays... >>



I was thinking that cricket was big there... but probably not a contender for most popular sport... has any one seen a game of cricket? I can never seem to figure out what the hell is going. That game is most confusing game to watch I know....
 
Surprisingly, soccer is not the most watched sport worldwide.

What is, then? Formula 1. Based on television ratings, no single sport is seen by more eyes than F1. (The Olympics do rate higher, but are an composite of several different sports.)
 


<<

<< I think the big cheese in India is Cricket. At least all the Indian guys I work with (and there's quite a few) are all huge cricket junkies....we even have our own cricket team and we paly against the local college clubs and are so far undefeated. The days of India v. Pakistan and India v. England are borderline company holidays... >>



I was thinking that cricket was big there... but probably not a contender for most popular sport... has any one seen a game of cricket? I can never seem to figure out what the hell is going. That game is most confusing game to watch I know....
>>



Cricket is a lot of fun to watch provided that it is a one-day match. A one-day match consists of 50 overs. Each 'over' consists of a ball being bowled 6 times. The team that bats first has 50 overs to accumulate the most runs. Each run is one trip across the pitch. A pitch is where the ball is bowled. It is defined by two 'wickets'.

Cricket has a religious following in India. Afterall, we do have the most talented batsman who ever lived. 😉

cricket online
 
I have never understood why NASCAR is so popular. I mean, why do so many people go to see which redneck drives arounds in a circle fastest this week? And why is it a sport? I thought sports were supposed to test the human capabilities, push the human body to its limits, be the fastest, strongest, smartest player. Nascar is a test of machine. Anyway, I've never liked any sport that exists only in a circle. Track, horseracing, nascar (and other car/truck racing), not my bag.

As for the question at hand, soccer is the most popular worldwide, had to be - I have no stats for you, but it just seems like it is.

BTW, railspec, do you know what Carlin says about lacrosse - not a sport, but a fagot colege activity.
 
Actually the sport with the largest live spectator attendance is the Tour d'France, but then it's over ~23 days (in the order of a half a million spectators or more a day) once a year so if taken over a year it falls down the list. 🙂

Neil
 
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